The Muslim Brotherhood Heads North

by Christine Williams

When the U.S. House of Representative's Peter King Hearings spilled over to the north, they created familiar alerts about fueling Islamophobia. Although Canada's publicly funded broadcaster the CBC made the congressional hearings a top item on its current affairs program,"As it Happens," it undermined the credibility of the hearings as an unfair attack against the Muslim population by excluding King's critical opening words: "the overwhelming majority of Muslim-Americans are outstanding Americans and make enormous contributions to our country." They were there to reassure the Muslim population that the hearings were not a witch-hunt.

The CBC program also promoted CAIR to its audience, thereby yet again legitimizing CAIR as the collective voice of American Muslims, even though the FBI cut ties with the group out of concerns it had been networking with Hamas. Sister organization CAIR-CAN operates in Canada.

Alejandro Beutel of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) served as the single "expert" guest commentator on the CBC program. Beutel predictably supported the premise that the King hearings were contributing to Islamophobia. On the other side, terror expert Steven Emerson has deemed MPAC an Islamist organization and an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, just as the FBI has determined.

Although CAIR has stated publicly and on its website that it does not advocate Jihad by the sword, it does espouse Jihad through ideological warfare, including wielding Western emotions and sympathies as an effective weapon. The power of emotions was on full display during Keith Ellison's testimony at the King hearings; he virtually wailed through his description about the anti-Muslim suspicions against Mohammed Hamdani, the young Pakistani-born American who perished during his rescue efforts on 9-11. "As it Happens" also featured Ellison's crying testimony followed by a full, sympathetic commentary from Beutel.

CAIR and other offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood have managed to trick naïve, gullible Western establishments. The Brotherhood has a well organized and influential network that has succeeded in infiltrating Western institutions, where its representatives have been embraced by the mainstream; and are called upon to meet dignitaries, conduct diversity and sensitivity training sessions with politicians, and have a tight relationship with security and law enforcement agencies.

While racism and stereotypes clearly do need to be addressed, the King hearing was not intended to be the forum to do so. But Islamists allege that they are victims of systemic racism whenever questions or investigations about Islamic radicalism are raised – probably purposely, both to raise sympathy, and to divert attention away from the issue of Muslim radicalization and block further investigation of it.

One of the foremost scholars on Islam, Daniel Pipes once accurately stated that the likes of Ellison who do not kill people pose an even greater threat than Bin Laden as they use peaceful, covert means to undermine and displace a social order, as national security experts detailed in a report: Shariah: The Threat to America, in which the techniques propelled by the international Muslim Brotherhood (MB) are exposed. The report's investigators include former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ed Soyster. They illustrate how stealth Jihadists, posing as peaceful, "moderate" practitioners of Islam, engage in "political and psychological warfare" to subvert American foundational institutions.. Members of the MB try to work their way through Western political and social establishments and win widespread public approval. Strategic documents of the MB have been found by the FBI; according to the report: "nearly every major Muslim organization in the United States is actually controlled by the MB or a derivative organization."

Ellison's alliance with CAIR is no secret. He received funds from CAIR to help finance his election campaign; then at his swearing-in ceremony he used a Koran instead of a Bible for his photo-op. When criticized for rejecting the traditional values of America, CAIR came to his defense. He also spoke at a CAIR fundraiser in Arizona while ignoring a joint letter of concern not to do so, (written by Arizona R-Senator Jon Kyl, Arizona R- Rep. Trent Franks and former R-Rep. John Shadegg). The letter highlighted the concern about CAIR's relationship with foreign terrorist organizations. Furthermore Ellison also jumps to the defense of CAIR.

Just prior to CBC's coverage of the King hearings, Ottawa lawyer and top security Intelligence Specialist David Harris --who had viewed the program's description on the CBC Facebook page-- posted his fair assessment of the coverage, which warned about the agendas of CAIR and MPAC, and suggested that genuine Moderate Muslim voices are available in Canada and would have been a better choice for the program. Harris's posting was removed from the site shortly afterward. David Harris responded, " There is every reason to believe this could be another example of the censorship that is interfering seriously with public education and awareness."

In Canada, citizens have been bombarded and heavily influenced by biased news coverage from the King hearings. The media accused the hearings of: promoting "McCarthyism," of resurrecting both the Salem Witch Trials and the Spanish Inquisition, and of being headed up by an IRA man -- all of which have nothing to do with the fact that we have a serious problem with Islamism in America and in the West at large. From violent Jihad to ideological Jihad, the Islamists'goal is the same: the dominion of global Shariah law, in which non-Muslims become Dhimmis, or inferior, second-class citizens -- under which system they have fewer legal and social rights, are forced to pay higher taxes, give way to Muslims on the street, and wear special clothing, among other requirements.

Although Peter King has received overseas death threats and "hostile phone calls," prompting him to increase his personal security and to state that he will not give in to political correctness, what the King hearings actually demonstrated is the extent to which Islamism has infiltrated our media and public discourse, and subsequently how much we need to push back.

Included in the hearings was devout Muslim and medical doctor, Zuhdi Jasser, who effectively described political Islam as a disease that is slowly infecting vulnerable Muslims, who become violent extremists. He cautioned that it grows and festers, and, like a disease, its symptoms must be identified and treated. Yet when Islam is presented in a negative light -- even when questions are legitimate — recriminations about racism and Islamophobia are quick to follow. Multicultural Canada is even more inclined to levy such erroneous accusations, as dialogue and diversity are golden words, making it politically incorrect to point a finger at anyone, however necessary.

If a country prizes a heritage rooted in democratic rights and freedoms, traditions that interfere with this must be confronted with sensitivity but without apology. There is no evidence that the King hearings were targeting Muslims; only that they sought to isolate the very real threat of radicalization by identifying its symptoms, so the disease could be treated according to the prescription of Dr.Jasser.

While it is important to stress that not all terrorists are Muslims, it is nevertheless important to note that Muslims are asked to participate in the "call to global Jihad" -- a holy obligation to try to establish world governance under Shariah law. Al Qaeda and related groups have been doing this their way: by recruiting and training Jihadists and planting them on American and Canadian soil. The infamous case of Canada's Al Qaeda poster child, Omar Khadr, who was trained as a Jihadist warrior in Afghanistan when he was a teen, exemplifies this. His siblings were also trained as they moved back and forth from Afghanistan to Canada, finally ending up in Osama Bin Laden's compound.

To continue thwarting the efforts of those people battling radicalization only serves to create further division, fear and suspicion about Muslims overall. As Peter King reminded us, the majority of Muslims are "outstanding Americans" making "enormous contributions;" and as US Supreme Court Justice Brandeis reminded us: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."

Original URL: http://www.hudson-ny.org/1992/muslim-brotherhood-heads-north

Christine Williams

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Surrendering to Islamists in Bangladesh

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

Radical Islamist leaders, such as Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, Moulana Rezaul Karim and their followers, are continuing to flex their muscles to signal the government in Bangladesh, the third-largest Muslim country in the world, that any decision that runs counter to Sharia Law or the fatwa [an Islamic religious-court edict, illegal under Bangladesh's constitution]will be confronted by these elements. A few days ago, Mufti Amini and Moulana Rezaul Karim called upon their followers to rage Jihad [holy war]against anyone attempting to ban the fatwa or pass any law which might go against the "Koran and Sunnah."

Since the secularist Bangladesh Awami League, the purportedly secularist party, came to power in January 2009, people expected that the muscle-flexing of radical Islamists would stop, as the ruling party always stated that it would ensure equal rights for every citizen of Bangladesh.

The situation has been seriously been worsening, however, as the government is visibly reluctant to take any action against the Mullahs, who freely continue their agitation. Worse, the leaders of the Islamist parties have been threatening the government and the judiciary to refrain from incorporating any law that runs counter to Koran and Sunnah.

Several hundred followers of Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini and Moulana Rezaul Karim on Thursday afternoon rallied in front of the office of Weekly Blitz newspaper [full disclosure: it is pur paper, and the only anti-Jihadist one in the region] in Dhaka, and chanted slogans such as, "Enemies of Islam shall be ousted from Bangladesh." As these demonstrators became increasingly hostile, we filed a Writ Petition with the Supreme Court of Bangladesh on March 13, 2001, requesting a court order to stop radicals from threatening violence and instigating Jihad. At the same time, several local publications, mostly patronized by Jamaat-e-Islami and other Islamist political forces, started publishing critical editorials against the anti-Jihadist movie project, a series of seven films, each exposing problems inside Sharia law and Islam. Its goal is to create public awareness about Sharia law -- Jihad, Burqas, Stoning, Beheading, Polygamy and Child Marriage -- to encourage people to speak out against Islamism, Sharia law, and voice the need for reform in Islam, the Koran and Islamic codes. The first film in the series, "BLACK," exposes the situation in the countryside -- similar to villages in other Muslim nations -- where Sharia law, Islamism, religious intolerance, hate speech and repression of women under Sharia are forcefully imposed on people, while systematic elimination of religious minorities continues. There are Islamic non-governmental organizations who fund men who convert girls to Islam. Other Muslim men are told that their forefathers will be awarded Paradise if he can convert a non-Muslim girl; every year, therefore, there are literally thousands of cases of the abduction and forceful conversion of girls, especially Hindus. Bangladeshi law protects the kidnappers by giving the label of "Romance" to these abductions.

Over 300 million people speak the local language Bangladesh and India alone; dubbing or sub-titles will be used for English, French, Hindi, and Urdu. The hope is to reach several hundred million people throughout the Muslim world.

Although the Writ Petition has yet to receive any decision from the Supreme Court, sadly a few days ago Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the parliament that her government shall not make any law that would go against the Koran and Sunnah. The Islamists see this statement as victory. It has emboldened the Islamists, who have begun further boosting their on-going programs of agitation programs throughout the country.

Although governments have already banned the most notorious Islamist militancy groups such as the Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh, Harkatul Jihad and Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the current government's initiative to ban another Islamist group, Hizb-ut-Towhid [which was already black-listed by the interior ministry in 2009] has become uncertain.

According to reports published in the Bangladeshi media, several influential figures in the government, including the current Law Minister, Barrister Shafiq Ahmed, is unwilling to ban any more Islamist groups, out of fear of the wrath of the local radical Muslims and Islamists. At the same time, the current government is already hesitating about lifting ban on the religious publications of Ahmediyas in the country, even though the ban was imposed by the previous Islamist coalition government.

Although on various occasions governments in Bangladesh have made pledges to the international community to lift the ban on the religious publications of the Ahmadiya sect, for example, who hold that Islam is final law for humanity and that it is necessary to restore it to its pristine form, the experts on the Constitution as well as human rights groups see this ban as severe deviation from the constitutional rights accorded to every citizen in Bangladesh.

Original URL: http://www.hudson-ny.org/1993/surrendering-to-islamists-in-bangladesh

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

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Muslim Jihad in Christian Ethiopia

by Raymond Ibrahim

Not only does last week's jihadist rampage against Ethiopia's Christians highlight the travails Christians encounter wherever Islam has a sizable population, but it offers several insights, including some which should concern faraway, secular nations with Muslim minorities. According to Fox News:

Remains of one of the churches destroyed during the Muslim rampage.

Thousands of Christians have been forced to flee their homes in Western Ethiopia after Muslim extremists set fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes. At least one Christian has been killed, many more have been injured and anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 have been displaced in the attacks that began March 2 after a Christian in the community of Asendabo was accused of desecrating the Koran.

For starters, this "medieval" attack is a reminder that countless churches have been destroyed or desecrated by jihadist terror since Islam rose to power in the Medieval era, evincing centuries of continuity. While the media may mention the more "spectacular" attacks on churches—in Iraq, in Egypt—most attacks go either unreported or underreported. (Some Muslim nations, such as U.S. "friend-and-ally" Saudi Arabia, nip it in the bud by outlawing churches in the first place.)

Moreover, the dubious excuse used to justify this latest barbarous outburst—"desecration of the Koran"—is a reminder of the double-standards Bibles suffer in the Islamic world, where they are routinely confiscated and burned. Indeed, even as Muslim Ethiopians were rampaging, Muslim nations hailed as being "moderate"—Malaysia and Bangladesh—also made headlines last week with their deplorable treatment of Christians and Bibles. Worse, the West helps standardize such a biased approach: the U.S. government—Obama, Hillary, and any number of other grandstanding politicians—rose up in condemnation when a virtually anonymous, small-town pastor threatened to burn the Koran, while saying nary a word about the countless Bibles daily mutilated in the Muslim world.

Dispossessed Ethiopians pray.

Such a gutless approach is not surprising considering the sort of people who advise the military, such as Lt. Cmdr. Youssef Aboul-Enein, who recommends that, if ever an American soldier desecrates a Koran, U.S. leadership must offer "unconditional apologies," and emulate the words of Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Hammond: "I come before you [Muslims] seeking your forgiveness, in the most humble manner I look in your eyes today, and say please forgive me and my soldiers," followed by abjectly kissing a new Koran (Militant Islamist Ideology, p. 26).

Finally, for those Western observers who live beyond the moment and have an interest in the big picture, the long run—the world bequeathed to future generations—the issue of numbers revealed by this Ethiopian anecdote should give cause to pause. The Fox News report continues:

The string of attacks comes on the heels of several reports of growing anti-Christian tension and violence around the country where Muslims make up roughly one-third of the total population but more than 90 percent of the population in certain areas, 2007 Census data shows. One of those areas is Besheno where, on November 9, all the Christians in the city woke up to find notes on their doors warning them to convert to Islam, leave the city or face death.

As Jonathan Racho, an official at International Christian Concern, said, "It's extremely disconcerting that in Ethiopia, where Christians are the majority, they are also the victims of persecution." This oddity is explained by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's assertion that Ethiopian Islamists "have changed their tactics and they have been able to camouflage their activities through legal channels"—a strategy regularly implemented by Islamists wherever they are outnumbered, like in the U.S., prompting countermeasures such as Islamist Watch and the Legal Project.

That Muslims are an otherwise peaceable minority group in Ethiopia, but in enclaves where they represent the majority, they attack their outnumbered Christian countrymen—giving them a tweaked version of Islam's three choices to infidels—suggests that Muslim aggression and passivity are very much rooted in numbers: the more Muslims, the more potential for "assertive" behavior.

Ethiopia has some of the world's oldest churches, including St. Mary of Zion, which was originally built in the 4th century but nearly destroyed during a 16th century jihad waged by the Somali Ahmad ibn Ibrahim.

This has lessons for the West, especially Europe, which in recent years has seen an unprecedented influx of Muslim immigrants, reaching some 53 million, a number expected to "nearly double by 2015, while the non-Muslim will shrink by 3.5%," due to higher Muslim birth rates. In short, it is a matter of time before Muslims account for significant numbers in Europe—perhaps not the majority, but, as the Ethiopian example establishes, a majority is not necessary for the winds of jihad to blow.

Indeed, the story of Islam's entry into Ethiopia, one of the oldest Christian civilizations, is illustrative. Around 615, when the pagan Quraysh were persecuting Muhammad's outnumbered Muslim followers in Arabia, some fled to Ethiopia seeking sanctuary. The Christian king, or "Negus" of Ethiopia, welcomed and protected these Muslim fugitives, ignoring Quraysh demands to return them—and thus winning Muhammad's gratefulness. Today, 14 centuries later, when Islam has carved itself a solid niche in Ethiopia, accounting for 1/3 of the population, Muslim gratefulness has turned to something else—not least a warning to Western states.

Original URL: http://www.meforum.org/2867/jihad-ethiopia-christians

Raymond Ibrahim is associate director of the Middle East Forum.

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

The Israeli Guernica

by Giulio Meotti

It’s humid on the plain leading to the town of Sderot. The houses are yellow and white in the Negev, the southern desert dreamed of by David Ben Gurion.

The largest Israeli town on the outskirts of the dangerous border with the Gaza Strip is emblematic of Israel’s dialectic situation in the Middle East: the psychological need for a kind of normalization opposed to the guillotine above its head.

At Givat, “the hill”, you see Hamas territory, just half a mile away. But houses with red roofs, tidy and comfortable, are today under construction on this hill. It’s the most incredible face of the new Sderot’s “normality”. Signs in local schools read, “hide under your desk in case the siren sounds”.

Sderot’s fate is becoming the fate of all Israel. Since the last “cease fire”, 530 rockets and missiles have been fired towards the southwestern part of Israel. Ashkelon, Sderot, Beersheba and Ashdod, these cities are now under the Islamist radar and have become missile targets.

The latest Israeli intelligence reports indicate that estimated warning time for a rocket attack on the greater Tel Aviv area has declined from two minutes to just 90 seconds.

Sderot represents the siege on the Jewish people and the resistance of Israel, but it also reveals the rest of the world’s indifference to the genocidal hatred that is Jihadism. Twelve thousand Palestinian rockets have fallen on Sderot and Ashkelon in the last ten years. The sense of death has pervaded the streets, the shops, the houses and the local clinic, where a wonderful and brave Romanian psychiatrist, Adriana Katz, takes care of these victims daily. She is a special character in the book "A New Shoah" about Israel's victims of terrorism.

In Sderot, the nightmare is the calm female voice of Tzeva Adom, the "Red Alert" alarm. "Seventy percent of the children in the Negev show symptoms of trauma, and these statistics are the result of independent research", Dr. Dalia Yosef, the former director of the Sderot Resilience Center, which specializes in caring for children, told me. "Thousands of children also have physical disabilities from Palestinian bombs. There are children who want to stay inside the bunkers, or in the safe rooms of their homes. There are children who don’t get out of bed anymore. We don’t know what will become of this generation born and raised under the Qassams".

“There are people who take the taxi to reach our clinic, in case the alarm will sound”, Dr. Katz told me a few days ago. “Many people lost hearing ability because they live close to the alarm. There are even those people who hear the alarm even when it’s silent. The heart is crying”.

Some of Sderot’s residents have moved to Netivot and Ashkelon in recent years, renting or purchasing apartments there, only to discover that the rockets continue to chase them. Now a large part of Israel is living much as those in Sderot do—running for shelter and fearing for their lives. Sderot is preparing for the next war. 5,000 additional shelters are under construction in the city. It’s a huge number for a small town of just 20,000 inhabitants.

Hezbollah and Hamas now have new Iranian missiles that can reach Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

In the Galilee, the city of Kiryat Shmona is equipped today with new shelters. In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah launched thousands of missiles on roofs and roads. According to the new Israeli intelligence reports, Hezbollah could launch up to 600 rockets per day. The Dan area of Tel Aviv, where a quarter of the entire Israeli population lives, is the target of the next war. Nobody knows if and when it will begin.

The power of inflicting death in the region has risen dramatically. It has been estimated that four years ago, Syria had 300 missiles that could reach Tel Aviv, a dozen for Hezbollah, 50 for Iran, and nothing for Hamas. Two years later, Syria had 1,300, Hezbollah 800, Hamas a dozen, and Iran 300. Today it’s 2,300 for Syria, 1,200 for Hezbollah, 400 for Teheran, and a good arsenal of Fajr-5 for Hamas.

Tel Aviv today is not only extending to the sky with its beautiful skyscrapers, but also sinking into the ground because it’s a new target for Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas. The Habima Theater, for example, will have four underground floors. Haifa, the third-largest city in Israel, is building “the largest underground hospital in the world”.

Drills have become a routine all over the country. Hospitals and emergency facilities have to be ready in case of necessity, and the municipalities have evacuation protocols.

The story of Sderot and Ashkelon lets us tell the parable of Western civilization. This is the only Western population forced to live with their eyes turned to heaven. This winter, the terrorists from Gaza launched phosphorous shells on Israeli civilians. These are chemical weapons able to burn the human skin. International newspapers and television stations didn’t report the news. The burned skin of the Jews have never interested the West.

Israel will rise and fall with Sderot. This is the Israeli Guernica that will never have its own Picasso. In 1937 the Basque town was the premature victim of the savage and merciless Nazi Blitzkrieg that was to sweep Europe. Sderot is the tiny symbol of Western civilization plunging into the very heart of the Dar al-Islam. They want to destroy Sderot because they want to destroy all of us.

Original URL: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/prospects_for_liberal_democrac.html

Giulio Meotti

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

Prospects for Liberal Democracy in the Middle East

by Whitson G. Waldo, III

The world has been mesmerized by the uprisings taking place in the Middle East against authoritarian regimes. Some speculation is that this effect was caused by the example of Iraq sustaining multiple democratic cycles. By force, the Bush administration annihilated Saddam's brutal regime and forced into place a democratic process. The speculation is that people in neighboring countries have been observant of the changes and now seek democracy for themselves. However, a liberal democracy is comprised of particular attributes such as representative government, rule of law, equality before the law, just punishment, property rights, and certain freedoms (e.g. religion, speech, association, etc.). It remains to be seen what the Iraqis and, for that matter, the rest of the Middle Eastern revolutionaries make of their opportunity.

Liberal democracy grows only in certain cultures. History has empirically demonstrated that cultures stemming from Christian, Eastern, and Far Eastern religions are compatible with stable, long term liberal democracies. On the other hand, it is not obvious that cultures emanating from an Islamic foundation are compatible with liberal democracy. This uncertainty is a key reason the European Union has resisted integrating Turkey. It may explain why there are no Muslim liberal democracies.

After World War I, Mustafa Ataturk brought the power of the Turkish state to bear against fundamentalist Islam. In an attempt to modernize, Ataturk forcibly introduced Western systems and required a secular bent. However, in current times, Recep Erdogan has leveraged public disapproval of government corruption, incompetence, and ineffectiveness to make gains in legislative representation. His Justice and Development Party, with ties to an earlier Islamist party, have been leading Turkey since 2002. While shair'a has not been formally declared the law of the land, a cultural shift is apparent by observing the effects of increased pressure on women to conform to Islamic dress styles (e.g. head scarves, veils) and public behaviors (fewer single women about, fewer women intermingling with men socially, etc.). In a downward trend, Freedom House notes the loss of freedoms of speech and the press. Even Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, admits civil liberties are endangered. Within the last year, in foreign affairs, Turkey has distanced itself from Israel and moved closer to Syria, a client state of Iran. Also, Turkey instigated the attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza in order to aid the Muslim Brotherhood progeny Hamas. The Muslim Brotherhood aims to install totalitarian Islamist governments in all Muslim countries; oppression and persecution of non-believers is conjoined with their goals and not incidental.

New constitutions for both Afghanistan and Iraq were catalyzed by the United States. Unfortunately, both of their constitutions include diametrically opposed ideas. For example, both constitutions convey freedom of religion to citizens. But both also recognize the supremacy of Islamic law known as shair'a. Shair'a is opposed to freedom of religion. This tension suggests shair'a or the constitution must give. So far, in both countries, illiberal shair'a has prevailed. On several occasions, Afghanistan has attempted to impose the shair'a penalty of death on Afghans who converted to Christianity from Islam. And Iraq's Christian population has been targeted for violence to the extent that a small fraction of believers remain in their country today compared to several years ago.

Iran purports to be a democracy. But the current repression against the Green Movement after the corrupted 2009 presidential election indicates little tolerance for dissent against the theocracy. Following the fall in 1979 of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi by the Iranian Revolution, Khomeinists established a theocratic constitution. This has prevented any effective liberal opposition from forming legally. Now, that opposition is being brutally repressed even to the point of civilian deaths.

It is difficult to establish causality for the reason Muslim countries are inhospitable to liberal democracies. But there are many reasons shair'a is incompatible with classical liberalism. A leading reason is that shair'a is a totalitarian system brooking no dissent. Submission is required by shair'a of believers and non-believers alike. There is no quarter given for debate or reasoning.

One feature of liberal democracy is representative government. Juxtaposed against this is shair'a's imposition of poll taxes on non-believers in order to discourage participation. Also, there can be prohibitions against non-believers holding government office or judicial positions. Shair'a does not recognize the separation of mosque and state, so only particular political parties are allowed to form.

The rule of law is central to liberal democracy. However, shair'a doesn't consist of codified statutes per se. Rather, shair'a includes Koranic content and practices of Mohammed (sunna). Any fatwa, or religious ruling, issued by innumerous individuals, could result in an ex post facto hazard. Also, there are no trials by jury, but only trials before religious officials.

Equality before the law means that men and women have equal legal standing in a liberal democracy. But shair'a devalues the worth of women. As witnesses, a woman has half the value of a man. This means two women must contest one man's claims. A wife must prove her innocence if a husband accuses her of adultery, but a wife must prove her husband's guilt if she accuses. Wife beating is the prerogative of her husband's governance. Females are entitled to half the inheritance of males. Also, drawing the greatest distinction in inequality, shair'a countenances slavery. Enslavement can range from servitude to treatment as chattel (i.e. the slave does not retain even rights over his/her own body).

Liberal democracies eschew cruel and unusual punishments. But shair'a requires imprisonment and even severing of a hand of a thief, stoning to death for adultery by married men or women, and lashings for other sexual transgressions. Homosexual behavior and sodomy are punishable by death.

Property rights are not uniform under shair'a. For example, Saudi Arabia has no churches anywhere in the country. Elsewhere, in Muslim countries, it is not uncommon that Christians may not build churches. For churches that already exist, approval might be withheld to effect repairs.

Shair'a does not sanction freedom of speech or the press. The orchestrated worldwide violence protesting the Jyllands-Posten cartoons of September 30, 2005 depicting Mohammed is consistent with Islamic fundamentalism. Contesting Islamic beliefs is considered heresy and punishable by death. This is consistent with the lack of freedom of religion imposed by shair'a. Apostasy is a capital offense. The Koran encourages conversion at the point of the sword and permits killing non-believers who won't convert.

Optimists, multiculturalists, ignoramuses, and naifs think protesters in the Middle East will replace tyrannies with liberal democracies. Unfortunately, you can't get to there from where the protesters are starting. With the sole exception of Israel, cultures in the Middle East, dominated as they are by shair'a, are inimical to liberal democracy and liberty. Tyrants may fall, but any democracies that are established will devolve sooner or later into the totalitarian state that shair'a demands. In general, American foreign policy decisions should be informed by the constraints shair'a imposes on movement into modernity in the Middle East. In particular, Americans should not expend one drop of blood or any treasure on current or future uprisings in the Middle East.

Original URL: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/prospects_for_liberal_democrac.html

Whitson G. Waldo, III

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

NY Times Wrongly Blames Israel for Lack of Peace Talks with Syria, Palestinians

by Leo Rennert

In its March 27 edition, the New York Times runs a news analysis by Mark Landler about likely impacts from the current wave of anti-government protests in Syria ("Syria's Chaos A Test for U.S." front page).

Referring to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's killings of his own people, Landler quotes an anonymous senior U.S. official as concluding that Assad, because of his current brutal tactics, "probably disqualified himself as a peace partner for Israel." A fair assumption.

But Landler then adds,

"Such a prospect had seemed a long shot in any event -- Prime Minister Benajmin Netanyahu had shown no inclination to talk to Mr. Assad -- but the administration kept working at it, sending its special envoy, George Mitchell, on several visits to Damascus."

Wrong, as far as Netanyahu's record on peace talks with Syria is concerned. Far from showing "no inclination to talk to Mr. Assad," Netanyahu has repeatedly signaled that he was ready and willing to engage in peace negotiations with Assad. The real hang-up, which Landler fails to mention, was that Assad would only agree to peace talks if, as a pre-condition for the talks, Israel first agreed to return the Golan to Syria. In other words, Assad would negotiate with Netanyahu only if he got everything he wanted before even coming to the negotiating table. So who really has shown "no inclination" for peace talks -- Netanyahu who was consistently ready for talks without pre-conditions, or Assad who first wanted to get the Golan back, effectively making such talks superfluous non-starters?

The New York Times blinds itself to the real obstacle that blocked negotiation: the Syrian leader who wouldn't come to the table unless Israel gave him everything beforehand. Instead, the Times ends up blaming Netanyahu for Assad's blockage of negotiations.

In the same edition and in the same vein, the Times again slams the wrong target -- Israel -- when it comes to lack of negotiations between the Jewish state and the Palestinians. In an article on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' meeting with Hamas officials on attempts at reconciliation between the two rival Palestinian groups, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner points to stalemated talks between Abbas and Netanyahu, and promptly blames Israel for the breakdown in negotiations ("Palestinians Hold Talks on Reconciliation" page 9, front news section).

"Negotiations (between Israel and the Palestinian Authority) have broken down over Israeli settlement building," Bronner writes. Just as Landler ignored Assad's deal-breaking pre-conditions for talks, Bronner brushes aside Abbas's own deal-breaking pre-conditions -- namely that Israel unilaterally halt all Jewish construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank as the price for resumption of talks. Never mind that Abbas negotiated without any such pre-conditions with previous Israeli prime ministers and has brought the peace process to a halt with his imperious demands for one-sided Israeli concessions. At the Times, when it comes to affixing blame for stymied peace negotiations, Israel predictably ends up as the guilty party.

Original URL: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/ny_times_wrongly_blames_israel.html

Leo Rennert

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Bahrain: The Iranian Thorn in Saudi Arabia’s Side

by Stephen Brown

The occupation of Bahrain by 2,000 Saudi-led Gulf troops in mid-March was just the latest manifestation of the largely unknown Sunni-Shiite conflict currently taking place across the Islamic world. Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are locked in a struggle for supremacy among the Muslim faithful from Nigeria to Malaysia where Shiism, for example, is practically banned. While relations between Islam’s two largest sects are generally good in most Islamic countries, Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi doctrine contains a “virulent hatred” for Shiites.

This unstated war is based on the view that each regards itself as the representative of true Islam, while the despised other represents heresy. The conflict’s roots are political and concern a difference in belief about the Prophet Muhammad’s successors. But the dispute sometimes turns violent, even during the Hajj in Mecca and Medina, where riots by Shiite pilgrims, believed provoked by Iran, have resulted in hundreds of deaths.

Saudi Arabia decided to intervene in Bahrain after the island nation’s security forces appeared unable to handle the ongoing protests from the Shiite majority who make up 70 per cent of the country’s 500,000 population. A further 200,000 people live in Bahrain but are not citizens. The kingdom’s ruler, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, is a Sunni Muslim as is the country’s ruling elite. While technically a constitutional monarchy, the Bahraini parliament’s power is limited in favour of the king, the country’s real power broker.

Although Iran is accused of having a hand in the latest Bahraini demonstrations, which started in mid-February (after the Saudi military intervention, an Iranian imam called on demonstrators to continue protesting), the disturbances are still driven largely by economics, like those in Tunisia and Egypt. The Shiites are Bahrain’s poorest and least educated people. Despite the country’s oil wealth, they, like the rebels in Eastern Libya, rightly believe they have never received a fair share of the economic pie. As a result, Bahrain’s Shiites have been demonstrating for a true democracy to be established, which, like in Shiite-majority Iraq, would see them take power after the first election.

That scenario, however, represents 1001 nightmares to Saudi Arabia and to the other Sunni oil kingdoms of the Persian Gulf that constitute the occupation force. The fear here is that Shiite control of Bahrain would only result in Iran eventually realizing its long-held ambition of taking over the strategically-located island. Bahrain is just off of Saudi Arabia’s east coast and is linked to its neighbour by a causeway, across which lies the Saudis’ sensitive Eastern Province. This Saudi province not only contains Saudi Arabia’s Shiite population, but also the all-important oil, upon which America and other industrialised countries heavily depend.

This threat to the Saudi oil fields is also behind the Obama administration’s refusal to denounce the Saudi military venture. In the New York Times, White House spokesman Jay Carney was even quoted as saying that “this is not an invasion of a country.” The official American stance, however, has left the administration open to charges of hypocrisy, since it supported the demands of the unarmed demonstrators in Egypt and Tunisia and is backing the rebels in Libya with force.

The Saudis believe the Iranians’ game plan is eventually to use Bahrain as a stepping stone to destabilize this ultra-sensitive area. Already earlier this month, in imitation of Egypt’s revolution, there was a ‘Day of Rage’ in the Eastern Province that saw several hundred Shiites demonstrate against the Saudi government. Like in Bahrain, dissatisfaction among Saudi Arabia’s two million marginalised Shiites obviously exists and is open to possible exploitation.

Far from shy, Iranian politicians have openly expressed their desire to acquire Bahrain. Several times in recent years they have called it Iran’s 14th province, basing their claim on a time in the 1800s when Iran controlled the island. And although the shah’s government renounced this claim in 1969, Iran’s ruling mullahs obviously see things differently today.

Iran has also been backing up its claim to Bahrain with action. Only last year, Bahrain arrested hundreds of Shiites, some local and some foreign, who were involved in a plot to launch attacks in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Iran has also been accused of involvement in previous disturbances in Bahrain as well.

While Saudi Arabia appears to have won the struggle for Bahrain, at least for the time being, it has had less success in other areas in its proxy war with Iran. Iranian-backed Hezbollah recently became the political power in Lebanon, ousting the previous, Saudi-supported government. In the sectarian violence in Iraq, thousands of Sunnis were killed and tens of thousands fled as refugees. President Obama’s intention to withdraw American troops from Iraq by year’s end also contains the danger of an Iranian invasion that would most likely bring the two countries into direct conflict.

At the moment, this Iran-Saudi Arabia proxy war is probably most intense in Pakistan, which is a hotbed of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence. An anti-Shiite political party, Sepah-e-Sahaba Pakistan once even tried to have Shiites declared infidels but was unsuccessful. A breakaway terrorist faction, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, patronized by Saudi Arabia, now simply kills Shiites, targeting their mosques and leaders. Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, also deadly haters of the Shia, share in these sectarian murders.

Pakistani Shiites, who constitute 20 percent of the country’s 160 million people, retaliated by forming their own Iran-supported terrorist organization, Sepah Mohammad, which murders Sunnis. About 800 Sunni-Shiite sectarian killings occurred in Pakistan in 2009 with the number increasing every year.

Saudi fears of Iranian aggression also extend to its border with Yemen where the Iran-supported Shiite Houthi tribes, who make up 40 percent of Yemen’s population, are fighting a central government that is backed by Saudi Arabia. Since the intermittent Shiite insurgency is taking place on the Saudi Arabian border, the Saudis fear the area could become a launching pad for attacks on the kingdom.

In the last outbreak of violence in 2009, in which more than 1,000 people died, the Saudi fears were justified. The Houthis raided into Saudi territory, killing a Saudi border guard. The Saudis responded with warplane raids and massed troops on the Yemeni border, which intensified the fighting.

With American influence on the wane in the Middle East, a major political remaking of the area is underway, which will ultimately see the Sunnis and Shiites confronting one another with regional hegemony as the prize. Saudi Arabia fears Iran and has been making major weapons purchases for this perceived showdown. Indicating their preoccupation with the Shiite state, in 2010, the Saudis ordered $60 billion worth of arms, having purchased, in comparison, $50 billion in the years since 9/11.

In perhaps the most violent and destructive of Sunni-Shiite proxy wars, Saudi Arabia backed Saddam Hussein in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, in which a million people died. Iran always said it would seek revenge for those responsible for that conflict and, since Saddam Hussein fell, is reported in Wikileaks to have had its death squads murder 180 Iraqi pilots who dropped poison gas on its troops. Knowing Iran’s desire for revenge, expansion and hegemony, the recent Saudi-led occupation of Bahrain was principally a message to Iran. It was also probably the opening move in the new Middle East’s next Sunni-Shiite war.

Original URL: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/03/25/bahrain-an-iranian-thorn-in-saudi-arabia%E2%80%99s-side/

Stephen Brown

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Blaming America for Islamist Persecution of Christians

by Mark D. Tooley

A recent missions study reported 270 new Christian martyrs every day in the world over the last 10 years, reaching 1 million during 2000-2010, and compared to 34,000 Christian martyrs in 1900. Of course, radical Islam was responsible for most of these killings. But the Religious Left, including some Evangelicals, is emotionally incapable of identifying oppression with any force other than the United States and Christianity (or Israel). Even Islamist persecution of Christians is imagined as primarily a regrettable but understandable reaction to American imperialism and injustice.

Ostensibly, U.S. “torture” policies have enraged many radical Islamists into tormenting Christians. Left-leaning evangelist Tony Campolo, who counseled President Clinton post Monica-gate, recently blogged on the Evangelical Left “Red Letter Christians” website about his “dismay” over a “prominent Christian author defending the use of torture in the war against terrorism.” The highly impressionable Campolo was further “stunned” when a group of fellow Evangelicals purportedly confirmed to him their own approval of “torture.” Somewhat sanctimoniously, Campolo wondered if Jesus, unlike his hypocritical followers, would torture a terrorist.

Religious Left critics of “torture,” like Campolo, typically never define it. And more recently, their ongoing campaign against “torture” is unclear about whether they are still protesting the enhanced interrogation techniques from the early Bush Administration, as a historical exercise, or whether they believe Obama currently is also a “torture” president. Or is the whole “War on Terror” an exercise in “torture”? Is all incarceration of terrorists “torture”? Most prominent Religious Left activists are pacifists, and they are discomfited by any armed resistance to terror. So their wide definition of “torture” is suspect.

Campolo is not a pacifist. Politically loquacious, he is given to rhetorical hyperbole, and he eagerly touts leftist assumptions about America and its Christians. “I wonder if we are becoming as despicable as those evil terrorists who are our declared enemies,” he characteristically asked, seemingly unable to distinguish morally between discomfiting incarcerated terrorists without doing physical harm, and acts of mass murder against innocents. Campolo suggested Evangelicals who support “torture” have wandered into an “ethical wasteland.” But he strutted into his own ethical wasteland when he faulted American Evangelicals, and U.S. foreign policy, for igniting Islamist persecution.

“Sadly, one of the consequences of our support of our nation’s foreign policies is that the doors for missionary work are being shut,” Campolo surmised. “Because Christianity, throughout the Muslim world, is associated with America, anti-Americanism has heated up anger against Christians in many parts of the Islamic world.” The evangelist noted that Iraqi Christians “during the evil days of the Hussein regime had the privilege of boldly worshipping and evangelizing” but “are now being threatened.” He said “tens of thousands of Christians have been fleeing the country in fear of persecution,” which has been accurate for some time, and “missionary endeavors are losing ground in Iraq.” Campolo fretted that Iraqi democracy is “not likely to bode well for Christians there.” It’s a little odd that Campolo is just now worried about Iraqi Christians, who have been suffering depredations for years. Yes, the small Christian minority had some protection under Saddam’s brutal police state, though it was hardly a wonderland of Christian evangelism. The collapse of order and sectarian violence after the 2003 invasion allowed Islamists to target Christians. Campolo might justly fault the U.S. for failing to provide more order early on. And he further might fault the U.S. for unwillingness to prioritize protections for Iraqi Christians. But Campolo seems left with arguing that Iraq, and Christianity, were better off under Saddam, with all his genocidal murders and authentic tortures.

Campolo further warned of Shiite dominated government in Iraq and prophesied that “if history is to be trusted, Christians will not fare well under Shia law.” What form of Islamic law does Campolo imagine Christians would fare well under? Saudi Arabia’s oppressively theocratic brand of Sunni Islam, under which Christians are banned altogether? But the evangelist does not really want to fault any form of Islamic law as intrinsically problematic for Christians and all religious minorities, lest he distract from targeting the U.S. as the ultimate villain.

“Around the world there are radical Muslim fundamentalists who have responded to our invasion of Iraq, as well as to our general acquiescence in the face of the sufferings of Palestinian people, by declaring a Jihad against Christianity,” Campolo asserted, citing threats to Christians in Indonesia, Sudan, and the Philippines, among others. He faulted “American television preachers” who “foolishly declare Islam to be an evil religion,” and also an American general who supposedly told a U.S. church congregation that “Islam is a creation of Satan.” Campolo was likely referring to now retired Lt. General William Boykin, who in 2003 told a congregation that Islamic extremists hate the United States “because we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christians…. And the enemy is a guy named Satan.” Boykin, whose superiors admonished him for not making more clear that he was speaking religiously only for himself and who retired in 2007, did not say, “Islam is a creation of Satan.” As to calling terrorism satanic, or observing that radical Islamists hate America because they associate it with Christianity and Judaism, these points seem indisputable, but troubling to Campolo, because they further distract from his conviction that America invites Islamic rage.

Campolo asked: “Don’t these people realize that there are dire consequences for our missionaries in Muslim countries as a result of such rhetoric?” Undoubtedly, Islamists are further enraged by criticism, especially when amplified by their own propaganda outlets. But Campolo seems not to consider that the contempt for Christianity and Judaism, not to mention America, well predates any recent U.S. military actions. “More than 300 missionaries who had been serving in Pakistan have lost their visas,” Campolo complained, once again faulting current U.S. foreign policy for angering Islamists. But Islamic law, including a ban on “blasphemy” and conversion away from Islam, were instituted in Pakistan in the 1980s by American ally General Zia-ul-Haq’s, a recipient of vast U.S. aid, and who assisted in channeling U.S. help to Muslim fighters against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan.

“Christianity is so identified with American power and politics that in some places missionaries are being sent home, not only because they are thought to be people who denigrate Islam, but also because of suspicion that they might even be CIA agents,” Campolo further decried. “Again the question must be raised as to whether or not Christianity is becoming a casualty of the war on terrorism,” and whether Christianity has been “hurt by the failure of leading Evangelical spokespersons to decry how the war on terrorism has been conducted.” Campolo also criticized Evangelical failure to support “moderate Muslims,” while faulting Evangelical “prejudices” that have “driven many Muslim young people into the camps of radicals.”

Campolo concluded: “We have a lot to answer for in the days that lie ahead, and when this war on terrorism ends–if it ever does–in an American victory, we Christians will have to ask ourselves if we were among the major losers.” But perhaps left-leaning Evangelicals like Campolo will also have to answer for their ongoing unwillingness more outspokenly to defend persecuted Christians globally beyond just exploiting them as talking points against U.S. policies. Campolo might also ask himself: If the U.S. ended all armed resistance to terrorism, and abandoned Israel, and even revoked the First Amendment by banishing all criticism of Islam, would radical Islamists then endorse full religious liberty and welcome the Christian missionaries whose fate Campolo ostensibly champions?

Original URL: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/03/25/blaming-america-for-islamist-persecution-of-christians/

Mark D. Tooley

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Thousands of Christians Displaced in Ethiopia after Muslim Extremists Torch Churches, Homes

by Diane Macedo

Thousands of Christians have been forced to flee their homes in Western Ethiopia after Muslim extremists set fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes.

At least one Christian has been killed, many more have been injured and anywhere from 3,000 to 10,000 have been displaced in the attacks that began March 2 after a Christian in the community of Asendabo was accused of desecrating the Koran.

The violence escalated to the point that federal police forces sent to the area two weeks ago were initially overwhelmed by the mobs. Government spokesman Shimelis Kemal told Voice of America police reinforcements had since restored order and 130 suspects had been arrested and charged with instigating religious hatred and violence.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the Islamist group Kawarja is believed to have incited the violence.

"We believe there are elements of the Kawarja sect and other extremists who have been preaching religious intolerance in the area,” he said at a Saturday press conference. “In previous times, we have cracked down on Kawarja because they were involved in violence. Since then they have changed their tactics and they have been able to camouflage their activities through legal channels."

The string of attacks comes on the heels of several reports of growing anti-Christian tension and violence around the country where Muslims make up roughly one-third of the total population but more than 90 percent of the population in certain areas, 2007 Census data shows.

One of those areas is Besheno where, on November 9, all the Christians in the city woke up to find notes on their doors warning them to convert to Islam, leave the city or face death, a Christian from Besheno told FoxNews.com on condition of anonymity.

“Under the Ethiopian constitution we are supposed to have freedom of religion, but Muslim leaders in our town don’t allow us that right,” the source said.

Later that month three Christians in Besheno were assaulted in religiously-motivated attacks and three others were forced to flee the city after being told that Muslim leaders had commissioned hit men to kill them, one of the exiled Christians told FoxNews.com.

“We were told by some Muslims that live in the city that there was already a plan to kill us and that the people who were assigned to kill us had already come from another city to do it.”

A witness to the three attacks was then assaulted in January after testifying about them in court, International Christian Concern (ICC), an organization that aims to fight Christian persecution, reported.

In the southern town of Moyale, a Christian was sentenced to three years in prison in November for allegedly writing "Jesus is the Lord" in a copy of the Koran, Compass Direct News reported. Christians from the area told the website he had actually written the phrase on a piece of cloth.

Sources also told Compass authorities had offered to release the man, Tamirat Woldegorgis, if he would convert to Islam, but he refused.

Additionally, two of his friends were fined for visiting him in prison and taking him food, Compass Direct reported.

And in Oma Village on February 26 a Muslim mob with rocks and rods assaulted and wounded 17 Christian college students who were distributing Bibles during a mission trip, ICC reported.

The mob overwhelmed government security forces that attempted to protect the students, but the students eventually fled, the ICC website said.

"The violence against Christians in Ethiopia is alarming because Ethiopian Muslims and Christians used to live together peacefully. Besides, it’s extremely disconcerting that in Ethiopia, where Christians are the majority, they are also the victims of persecution," Jonathan Racho, ICC's Regional Manager of Africa and South Asia, told FoxNews.com.

Meles said that the government is doing everything it can to stop religious violence.

"We knew that they were peddling this ideology of intolerance, but it was not possible for us to stop them administratively because they are within their rights," he said. "If we can find some association between what they are doing by way of preaching and what happened by way of violence, then of course we can take them to court."

Racho, originally from Ethiopia, said the fact that the government waited a full week before sending troops to Asendabo shows that it’s not doing enough. Going forward, he said he hopes the government "will take measures to ensure that such attacks will not happen in the future," including bringing all responsible parties to justice to show this will not be tolerated.

"The Ethiopian government has arrested around 130 of the perpetrators, and we hope they will be prosecuted according to the law."

Original URL:http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/24/thousands-christians-displaced-ethiopia-muslim-extremists-torch-churches-homes-2057387870/

Diane Macedo

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Canada 'Vigorously Condemns' Gaza Attacks on Israel

by Chana Ya'ar

Canada is standing up for Israel's right to defend itself against the terrorist rocket and mortar attacks on its southern region.

Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said Friday in a statement, “Canada vigorously condemns the rocket attacks on Israel launched from the Gaza Strip. These terrorist attacks, which indiscriminately target civilian areas, are abhorrent and criminal.

“Israel has a right to defend itself against such terrorist acts.

“Terrorism is never justified. We call on all parties in Gaza to cease these criminal attacks. Those responsible should be brought to justice,” Cannon added.

On Saturday, three rockets were launched from Gaza at the western Negev. Damage was caused in all three attacks, but no one was injured.

On Sunday morning, the Israel Air Force carried out air strikes on Islamic Jihad terrorists preparing to again attack southern Israel with more missiles. At least two terrorists were killed in the air strike.

Original URL: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143150

Chana Ya'ar

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